22 
BULLETIN 1187, EL S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The greatest expansion possible in dough comes when the elastic 
limit of the gluten is reached. If the dough is allowed to ferment to 
or beyond that limit before it is placed in the oven, the generation of 
more gas and its expansion due to the heat of the oven will cause a 
breaking down of the walls of the cells or pockets before they become 
permanently fixed by baking. This is especially true in the case 
of weak flours, and it results in a smaller, more poorly shaped, and 
coarser textured loaf than when the dough is placed in the oven 
before maximum expansion is reached. 
Tn making these baking tests the aim is to place the dough in the 
oven just long enough before maximum expansion is reached so that 
the reserve strength in the gluten can take care of the expansion of 
gas in the dough due to the heat of the oven before the cell walls 
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BAKING REPORT 
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Fig. 19.— Baking record sheet. (Size, 8| by 11 inches.) 
become fixed by baking. In commercial baking the dough is usually 
placed in the oven some time before it has expanded to its maximum 
volume, in order that a finer textured bread may be produced than 
would result if it were allowed to expand further. 
WATER ABSORPTION. 
Considerable experience is required in adding the correct amount 
of water to a dough. If too much water is added, the dough loses 
stability and produces bread of a coarser texture: If too little water 
is added, a smaller and more solid and closer- textured loaf is pro- 
duced. 
The absorption or quantity of water used in making the dough is 
of importance from the commercial standpoint since, other things 
being equal, the more water that can be worked into a given weight 
of flour, the greater the weight of bread it will produce. Some of 
